Migrating GoCardless Direct Debits to London and Zurich

LoveAdmin is switching direct debit providers.

The migration to our new direct debit provider, London & Zurich (L&Z), takes approximately 6 weeks. The deadline to complete the switch is 31 July 2020 so action is required now in order to maintain your current rate of 2.95%. If you chose not to switch, our new GoCardless rate of 3.95% + 20p per transaction will apply from the 1st August 2020.

It's important to note, your members/customers will not need to take any action if you choose to switch to London & Zurich.

We have detailed the implications and steps of switching - click the link below for more information, including all email templates you will require:

https://resources.loveadmin.com/london-and-zurich-migration

FAQ

We have provided help with answering some of key questions you will be asked to provide during the migration process. If you require further guidance with answering any questions on the forms you receive from GoCardless and London & Zurich, please contact their teams directly for assistance.

[e-mail] - GoCardless
[e-mail] - London & Zurich

Click here for a glossary of terms to support you through the migration process

Q: What is our SUN?

A Service User Number (SUN) is a unique six-digit number assigned to a Service User collecting payments by Direct Debit. It's very much like a license given from a bank to a business/organisation to join the Direct Debit scheme.

• The existing GoCardless SUN data is 275069
• The new SUN at London & Zurich is 173047

Q: What is the last GoCardless Payment Request Date?

This is the last date that you can request payment using GoCardless through LoveAdmin. This is 7 working days minimum before the Migration Date (see below). This gives time for the payment to process through GoCardless and reconcile in LoveAdmin. 

After this Last GoCardless Collection Date, GoCardless will be disabled in your LoveAdmin account and all members/customers will have a pre-authorisation status of NO. 

You can still generate payment requests after this date but they will not be processed until the London & Zurich Activation Date. This means anyone wanting to make a payment for the issued request must wait until this activation date.

Q: What is the bulk change/migration date?

The bulk change / migration date (both define the same process) is the date in which the direct debit instructions are sent by London & Zurich to BACS in preparation for future collections. No payment is being requested or collected at this point. 

This migration process takes up to 6 working days and starts on the Migration Date. 

BACS will inform your members/customer’s bank of the change in direct debit provider. Some banks may notify your members/customers of this change by email or SMS. 

Shortly before the Migration Date, London & Zurich will send two emails to your members/customers. One confirms that London & Zurich have the correct bank account details (they will not expose all bank details). The other, which is known as a ‘Notification of Change’, is a legal requirement the contents of which has been approved by BACS. London & Zurich will provide you sample copies of those emails before they send them - Preview the letter here

Q: What is the London & Zurich Activation / First collection Date?

This is the date in which London & Zurich will be activated in your LoveAdmin account. Any payment requests that were generated between the Last GoCardless Payment Request Date and the L&Z Activation Date will be generated on this date. Note – for recurring payments, this delayed payment request will not affect future scheduled payment request dates. They will remain as they were before. 

Q: What are our next steps to ensure we are ready for the switchover?

Step 1 - If you haven’t already done so, please ensure you have requested and forwarded your data from GoCardless to London & Zurich. This must be done 7 working days before the Migration Date to give London & Zurich and LoveAdmin the time required to synchronise the direct debit mandates to your members/customers records. 

Step 2 – You may wish to email your members/customers to give them forewarning of the communication they will receive from their bank and London & Zurich.

You will only need to send the email to people that have pre-authorised payments.  

Important, to identify who your pre-authoirsed members/customers are, you need to carry out this step BEFORE the Last GoCardless Payment Request Date as all member/customers will have a pre-authorisation status of NO after this date. 

To identify who are pre-authorised and to send the email, follow the steps below: 

1. Login to your LoveAdmin account 
2. Go to Contacts > Groups 
3. In the toolbar, click on ‘Create new group’ 
4. Give the group a name, for example ‘Pre-authorised members’ 
5. Select No to all options and then Save at the bottom 
6. Go to Contacts > Master Contact List 
7. Click on ‘New search’ 
8. Select the field ‘Pre-approval status’ and ‘Yes’. Hit search. 
9. A list of all pre-authorised members/customers will appear. At the bottom of the list you can adjust the amount of contacts to display in the table. Adjust that number to match the number of people pre-authorised (that number is displayed on the bottom right of the table). Hit ‘Change’ 
10. Select all contacts. 
11. From the tool bar, hover over Actions and select ‘Copy to new group’ 
12. Select the group you created (ie. ‘Pre-authorised members’) and click on OK. 
13. Once they have been copied, go to Email and send your group email from there. 

Q: Why are all Pre-Authorisations statuses for members in our system now set to NO?

During the migration window, all existing pre-authorisation statuses will be temporarily set to NO.

This is nothing to worry about - All statuses will be restored and set back to YES on the first collection date with London & Zurich.

Q: How will future payments be taken?

Payments will be collected in the same way as they currently are with GoCardless with two initial exceptions:

• Refunds will need to be made outside of the system (you can still record them in the system)
• Funds transferred to your organisation’s bank account will not have the transaction fees deducted at the point of transfer (as they are now with GoCardless). London & Zurich will collect the transaction fees monthly, by Direct Debit.

These limitations are being addressed and from October 2020:

• Partial and full refunds will be available in LoveAdmin. Note, there will be a cost of £2 per refund, charged by London & Zurich. Full details will be in your agreement with them.
• Collection of transaction fees at the point of transfer of funds (in the same way as GoCardless do now)

Please also note: The first payment a contact makes will take 11 working days to transfer into your bank account. Each subsequent payment will take 7 working days.

Q: Do L&Z Pre-authorisations expire?

No - Once setup, an L&Z pre-authorisations will remain for perpetuity until cancelled by the member or club admin. 

 Q: How can we gain access to our London & Zurich Payment Services Portal?

For access to your London & Zurich Payment Services portal, please contact London & Zurich on [e-mail], who can issue your login details.

If you have any questions about this change, get in touch with us at [e-mail]